Mills As A Industrial Enterprise Of the Ottoman Period: The Example Of Tosya Nahiye (1578/1579)

Abstract

The mill has had an important place as an industrial enterprise and complementary to agricultural activities in societies before the Industrial Revolution. In this study, the mills operating as industrial enterprises in the Ottoman Empire were handled with a historical geography perspective, and their distribution in the 16th century Tosya sub-district, their distribution, density and operating patterns, operating times and devastation conditions were tried to be revealed. Within the scope of the study, the mill and settlement data determined to belong to the field from the work named Çankırı Mufassal Tahrir Book dated 1579 were transferred to the tables. The localization of the mentioned settlements and mills was made by using 1 / 200.000 scale topography map. In addition, a field survey was carried out in Tosya city and its villages, and important information was obtained about the operating methods, duration and disappearance of the mills through interviews with local people. Then, the information obtained from the archive source and field research was evaluated by considering the literature. In the light of this information, the existence of 49 mills in Tosya sub-district was determined in 1578/1579. It is observed that 40 of the mills included in the Tahrir register were actively operated, while 9 of them were destroyed. In addition, when the distribution of the mills is examined on the map, it is understood that the mills are concentrated in the river lengths located close to the settlements and in the areas suitable for elevation.